Health blog Category: sports injuries
Rock Climbing Injuries to Lower Extremity and Ankle
Rocking Climbing can lead to many different types of musculoskeletal injuries. Some of the most common injuries to the lower body include;
- Meniscal tear
- Stiffness, swelling, feeling like the knee is going to give out, catching in the knee.
- Knee ligament tear
- Swelling, instability, loss of range of motion.
- Morton’s Neuroma
- Sharp burning pain with standing and walking between two toes, tingling in foot.
Preparing for an Upcoming Sports Season?
An impending sports season can be daunting when you feel like you’re not ready. But, there are many steps you can take to make sure your mind and body are prepared! Read below to see what actions you can take to make sure you are ready to perform at your best this season! This isn’t a comprehensive list, but a good start to get you going!
Condition!
To perform at it’s best, your body needs to be adapted to its demands.
Read full blogWhat are Shin Splints?
“Shin Splints” is a term used for pain in the front of your shins, mostly from overuse in runners, jumpers, or hikers. The pain runs along the tibia (lower leg bone) where the muscles insert. The 2 most common muscles involved in shin splints are the tibialis anterior and the tibialis posterior. Tibialis posterior acts to move your foot inward, and brings your toes away from your nose.
What Causes Shin Splints?
Shin Splints can be caused by several different things including:
- Overtraining
- Increasing mileage or pace too quickly
- Not varying mileage, pace, or surface on which you are running
- Poor Footwear
- Shoes that are worn out
- Incorrect shoes for your type of foot
- Shoes with poor shock absorption
- Poor running mechanics
- Lack of hip strength
- Excessive pronation or supination at the foot
- lack of ankle strength
- Tightness in the calf or hamstring
- Excessive stride length
What Can I Do About My Shin Splints?
Read full blogWarm Up & Cool Down to Prevent Injuries
Many people go out for a run or start a pickup game of baseball without taking the time to properly warm up or cool down afterwards. But making this part of your routine before and after playing a game, running, exercising or engaging in any high-intensity activity is crucial to preventing serious injuries.
Some of these injuries include:
- Strains and sprains
- Shin splints
- Knee injuries
- Tendinitis
- Dislocations
- Fractures
We see these types of injuries on a regular basis.
Read full blogCommon Lower Extremity Injuries & Prevention
When people think of physical therapy the first thing to come to mind is often ‘injury.” While physical therapy is instrumental in solving injuries and improving functional deficits, it can also be used to prevent injuries specifically in the sport’s world. Read below to hear some common lower extremity injuries in athletes that can be avoided.
ACL/MCL sprain or tear
- Function: these ligaments reside in your knee and prevent the bones from moving too far out of place
- Common reasons for injury:
- Twisting and planting the leg
- Usually occurs in contact or high impact sports (soccer, football, etc)
- Weak hips and quadriceps muscles lead to poor positioning of the knee and put an athlete at higher risk for injury
- Ways to prevent injury:
- Physical therapist and athletic trainers can test strength and perform special tests to determine if you are at high risk for these injuries
- Strengthening hip and isolating certain muscle groups including the quadriceps improves knee positioning
- Agility drill practice with a PT or ATC can improve athlete agility and reduce injury risk
Meniscus tear
- Function: the meniscus sits between the tibia and femur of your knee joint and provides cushioning to improve joint mobility
- Common reasons for injury:
- Twisting and planting the leg
- Usually occurs in contact or with repetitive activities (soccer, running, etc)
- Weak hips and quadriceps muscles lead to poor positioning of the knee and put an athlete at higher risk for injury
- Ways to prevent injury:
- Physical therapist and athletic trainers can test strength and perform special tests to determine if you are at high risk for these injuries
- Strengthening hip and isolating certain muscle groups including the gluteus medius can improve knee positioning
- Agility drill practice or functional strengthening with a PT or ATC can improve athlete agility and reduce injury risk
ITB Syndrome
- Function: the ITB attaches from your hip muscles and all the way down the outside of your leg and ultimately the knee and patella to improve knee mobility and function of the hip muscles
- Common reasons for injury
- Weak hip musculature or decreased stretching/mobility
- Usually occurs in sports involving repetitive activities (running, jumping, biking, etc)
- Ways to prevent injury:
- Physical therapist and athletic trainers can test strength and measure flexibility to determine if you are at high risk for these injuries
- Strengthening and isolating hip muscles can improve function of the ITB
- Stretching and flexibility training helps to decrease tightness of the ITB and attached muscle groups
- Functional strengthening with a PT or ATC can improve mobility and reduce injury risk
Ankle Sprain
- Function: these ligaments reside in your ankle and prevent the bones from moving too far out of place
- Common reasons for injury:
- Weak ankle musculature and posterior chain strength (glutes/hamstrings/hips)
- Specific positioning of the ankle that cannot be recovered due to decreased strength
- Usually occurs in agility tasks including running, cutting, or drills
- Ways to prevent injury:
- Physical therapist and athletic trainers can test strength and measure flexibility to determine if you are at high risk for these injuries
- Strengthening and stabilizing ankle musculature can improve ankle stability and decrease chance for injury
- Stretching the ankle can also help to improve ankle mobility and reduce injury risk
- Functional strengthening and agility training with a PT or ATC can improve mobility and reduce injury risk
Physical therapy has many benefits that don’t have to mean getting an injury.
Read full blogA Sprain or A Strain
I’m sure you’ve heard of someone that has had a sprain or a strain or even experienced one yourself. Sprains and strains are common injuries that affect the soft tissues of your body. You don’t have to be an athlete to experience one of these injuries.
People of all ages and activity levels are susceptible to sprains and strains. Sometimes these injuries can be confusing to keep straight, so what is the difference between a sprain and a strain?
Benefits of Participating In Multiple Sports
There are many benefits for athletes participating in multiple sports, even beginning at an early age. Recruiters are looking at kids as early as grade school, and they prefer recruiting kids that are involved in multiple sports. Recruiters believe these athletes gain a competitive edge, and are more accessible to recruit.
Why Participate in Multiple Sports?
Athletes participating in multiple sports have shown many benefits including:
- Improved overall health and wellness
- Decreased injury rates
- Improved athletic performance
- Improved leadership skills and teamwork
- Better attendance in school and academic performance
Participating in multiple sports can reduce injury rates because these athletes use a variety of movements that can limit the occurrences of overuse injuries associated with one sport.
Read full blogThe Importance of Strength in Athletes
Why Strength is Important
For athletes being stronger will help them experience a significant decrease in potential for injury. It will also allow them to experience an overall greater ease of activity and movement with everything they do. Typically, there will be no immediate effect to having weakness in a particular muscle in your body. The effects are usually more long term in the sense that “weakness” or lack of proper strength in an area, results in excess friction on the bones in the joint, excessive wear and tear on tendons and cartilage around a joint, and more.
Setting up a Strengthening Program
This all starts with knowing what muscles to work and how to work them correctly.
Read full blogWhat REALLY is Sciatica?
Have you ever heard of sciatica? It’s quite for a patient to come into the clinic saying they are suffering from sciatica. However, in most cases, this is NOT actually what’s going on with them.
The term sciatica tends to be thrown around and not many people have a true understanding what it is and what is actually causing their symptoms. If you were to google your symptoms:
- pain that goes down my leg to my feet
- numbness in the leg
- tingling in my leg
Dr.
Read full blogACL Tears and Sports
The phrase that can strike fear into the hearts of athletes and fans is the dreaded “torn ACL.” Automatically, that athlete is put on the shelf for the season and possibly extending into the next. “6 to 12 month recovery” titles popup on our screens, and we wonder if that athlete will ever be the same. We watch the replay, and questions and thoughts pop into our minds.
“What is an ACL?” “Why does it take so long to come back from an ACL surgery?” “Is that what happened to Robert Griffen III?”
There is a tremendous amount of information available pertaining to the “ACL,” and much of it can be confusing and conflicting.